Occupy Oakland January 28, 2012 - Police Brutality

EDIT: SEE THE VIDEO RESPONSE BELOW POSTED BY MY USERNAME TO SEE AN EXTENDED VERSION OF THE FIRST TEAR-GASSING. My camera was continuously rolling, I missed some things but got a lot. I edited it down to try and show all that is necessary to see. The action to take the Henry J Kaiser building started peaceful. The police diverted our route but the march continued toward the building. A fence was torn down in an attempt to take the building and the police fired tear gas. I did not leave out parts where protesters threw things (including the tear gas canisters that were fired upon them). The point was that the police responded with violence to the destruction of a fence. The protesters naturally reacted to this. Since the ability to take the building was stopped by the police, the march moved on (there was chatter of taking other buildings or approaching the building from the other side. I am not clear as to what the plan was). The police stopped the march in its tracks. I was filming the two sides in between them and had the first flash bang grenade shot at me which can be seen exploding at my feet in the video. It put me into a state of shock basically and I was pretty jumpy filming the rest (not to mention all of the tear gas I was breathing). The police responded with violence first in this standoff again. Rubber bullets, tear gas, smoke bombs and flash bang grenades were shot, the protesters retreated. Then the protesters approached again and the process basically repeated itself. During the second approach a young woman was being protected by the crowd and more flash bang grenades were shot at the protesters. From there, the march moved (maybe more accurately forced by the police. I missed another standoff involving clubbing with batons and more tear gas) to Oscar Grant Plaza. A lot more happened at night but since I was not there, you can consult other sources to get the rest of the story.

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